Installing Debian on an Alix 2d3 using PXE
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From: Urs Hunkeler on 8 Oct 2009 14:20 Hi, >> For those who misunderstood my mail, tftp and bootp (basically PXE) >> worked before and the kernel and the initramdisk got loaded. The problam >> was with the installer not being able to access the mirrors. Apparently >> even though the installer asked me to provide a name server, it did not >> use it :-(. > > Wow. How did your network work before? > > (Hint: dnsmask is nice) :-) The solution to the mystery is simple: I used a separate subnet and only the DHCP server for this subnet was missing this option. Anyways, the installer asked me for the domain name server (as it should when it does not get the information automatically), but then ignored it! Also, when I configured the network manually, it did not work. >> Why use PXE? Well, I always wanted to do that. Also I have the nice >> little box for the Alix, and it becomes quite cumbersome if you have to >> unscrew everything, remove the CF card, install everything, then put it >> back. I am much in favor of automating things, and apparently so is >> Debian, why else would there be such handy features like preseeding (I'm >> still learning about it...)? >> >> Anyways, the installation seemed to complete successfully. Unfortunately >> Grub is not yet configured to use the serial console and crashes. Now I >> need to find a way to mount the partition in a recovery environment in >> order to change the Grub configuration... > > Boot the installer again, get into a shell. Mount and chroot. > > Note that you may need to progress in the installer up to the > partitioning stage ot make sure all the drivers are loaded. Thanks. I tried that and just in case others are in the same situation: I needed to manually modprobe ext2 to mount the partition. Before chrooting into the partition, make sure you remount /proc and /dev. I found a much easier solution: boot the kernel and the initrd from the network! :-) (the system previously finished installing) Thanks for all the help! Cheers, Urs -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-REQUEST(a)lists.debian.org with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmaster(a)lists.debian.org
From: David Goodenough on 8 Oct 2009 15:00 On Thursday 08 October 2009, Urs Hunkeler wrote: > Hi, > > I'm not sure this was a problem with the installer. The installer seemed > to have set Grub up for the serial console, albeit with the wrong baud > rate. However I did not get Grub 2 to run on the Alix. I even tried to > install Grub with some modules preloaded (serial terminal and ext2). In > the end all I got was "GRUB loading." and a couple of empty lines. > > Now I switched to Grub legacy and it work :-) Well OK then Grub-2 needs a bug reported about not working with serial console, and the installed needs a bug reported about the baud rate. David > > Cheers, > Urs > > > Perhaps it would be useful if you could document what you do to get Grub > > working, and then it might be worth suggesting that the installer should > > either notice that it is being driven from a serial console and copy the > > parameters into the grub config, or it should ask whether this is what it > > wanted. Either way this will need to be documented as a wishlist item > > against the installer. > > > > David -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-REQUEST(a)lists.debian.org with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmaster(a)lists.debian.org
From: Urs Hunkeler on 9 Oct 2009 02:30
Hi, The list server refused my previous mail, so I try again. >> For those who misunderstood my mail, tftp and bootp (basically PXE) >> worked before and the kernel and the initramdisk got loaded. The problam >> was with the installer not being able to access the mirrors. Apparently >> even though the installer asked me to provide a name server, it did not >> use it :-(. > > Wow. How did your network work before? > > (Hint: dnsmask is nice) :-) The solution to the mystery is simple: I used a separate subnet and only the DHCP server for this subnet was missing this option. Anyways, the installer asked me for the domain name server (as it should when it does not get the information automatically), but then ignored it! Also, when I configured the network manually, it did not work. >> Why use PXE? Well, I always wanted to do that. Also I have the nice >> little box for the Alix, and it becomes quite cumbersome if you have to >> unscrew everything, remove the CF card, install everything, then put it >> back. I am much in favor of automating things, and apparently so is >> Debian, why else would there be such handy features like preseeding (I'm >> still learning about it...)? >> >> Anyways, the installation seemed to complete successfully. Unfortunately >> Grub is not yet configured to use the serial console and crashes. Now I >> need to find a way to mount the partition in a recovery environment in >> order to change the Grub configuration... > > Boot the installer again, get into a shell. Mount and chroot. > > Note that you may need to progress in the installer up to the > partitioning stage ot make sure all the drivers are loaded. Thanks. I tried that and just in case others are in the same situation: I needed to manually modprobe ext2 to mount the partition. Before chrooting into the partition, make sure you remount /proc and /dev. I found a much easier solution: boot the kernel and the initrd from the network! :-) (the system previously finished installing) Thanks for all the help! Cheers, Urs -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-REQUEST(a)lists.debian.org with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmaster(a)lists.debian.org |